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Pashkevils - admonitory posters - announcing Birkat Hachama prayers in the Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Shearim.
 (Emil Salman)
Last update - 14:30 05/04/2009
Jews around world to greet sun with once-in-28-year prayer
Prof. Ariel Cohen: "The tradition contradicts every astronomical principle today, and even the Hebrew calendar, as it is now used"
By Yair Ettinger
Tags: Passover 2009, Jewish World 

Hundreds of thousands of Jews around the world will awake before dawn on Wednesday, climb to high vantage points and wait for the sun as they recite a prayer said only once every 28 years.

For many of the participants, this will be their first time reciting the "Birkat Hachama" prayer, which according to Jewish tradition, marks the sun's return to its starting point at the moment the universe was created, after completing a 28-year cycle known as the "machzor gadol," or "large cycle."

The last prayer was held in April 1981. At the time, Haaretz correspondent Akiva Eldar described throngs of Jerusalemites ascending to the Western Wall Plaza 3 A.M. to recite the prayer.
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This year, however, the blessing has added significance, as it falls on Passover Eve, a sign some observant Jews interpret as a potential harbinger of a redemptive event of cosmic proportions.

Yeshivas in the capital are holding special sessions to interpret the significance of the event. At the Kahal Hasidim yeshiva, posters promise "a comprehensive lesson accompanied by an enormous model of the zodiac and constellations, according to the renowned expert on the stars' positions and heavenly bodies, Rabbi Mordechai Ganot, may he live long."

Ganot and other speakers fill auditoriums. He said "many questions remain" over "the thesis of a certain Polish priest named Copernicus," but emphasized, "Anyone who believes in the new system is not considered a heretic."

According to the Babylonian Talmud, the Sun was created on the fourth day of creation. Because Jewish law considers a day to span from evening to evening, the beginning of the halachic fourth day occurs at sundown Tuesday evening. The 28-year-cycle therefore begins and ends at the exact point in time when the sun was created, and the sun only returns to this position once every 28 years.

Does this tradition receive any support from modern astronomical knowledge? Prof. Ariel Cohen of the Hebrew University's Department of Atmospheric Sciences said, "If the length of the year was as they thought it was 2,000 years ago - that is, 365 and a quarter days - then 28 years would indeed be an accurate cycle. But based on knowledge of the year's length gained in the past few hundred years, 'Birkat Hachama' is an embarrassing tradition, testifying to a complete, blatant and intentional disconnect from modern science."

Cohen also took issue with the Scriptural decree to recite the prayer at the beginning of spring, saying that because the calendar in use today is vastly different from the one used in the past, the "tradition contradicts every astronomical principle today, and even the Hebrew calendar, as it is now used."

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      1.   birkat ha-chama 06:23  |  aytan 05/04/09
      2.   mythology corrupts religion 08:04  |  KMS 05/04/09
      3.   Bad Memory 09:04  |  Dave 05/04/09
      4.   Interesting 09:08  |  Oriv 05/04/09
      5.   "Birkat Hachama" prayer must be greeted also with charity deeds 09:26  |  Joseph.E 05/04/09
      6.   nothing embarrassing..wonderful symbolism 09:58  |  Meir Gush Etzion 05/04/09
      7.   do not look at the stars for your fortunes 11:20  |  jacques 05/04/09
      8.   Religion is by definition mithology... 14:02  |  The Wizard 05/04/09
      9.   #4 and #7 14:05  |  observer 05/04/09
      10.   #9 The muslim tradition is in accord with Jewish monotheism 14:55  |  Meir Gush etzion 05/04/09
      11.   Muslim views - #4 16:47  |  Daniel 05/04/09
      12.   Birkat Ha-Chamah 17:15  |  Beit David 05/04/09
      13.   NOT praying to the sun 18:27  |  CS 05/04/09
      14.   astronomical knowledge is not new nor a modern science 18:56  |  Joseph.E 05/04/09
      15.   #11 what? 20:03  |  observer 05/04/09
      16.   Some minor corrections 20:16  |  observer 05/04/09
      17.   Saying blessing in the wrong day of the wrong year 22:06  |  Ben 05/04/09
      18.   Prof. Ariel Cohen is an embarrassment with his ignorance. 01:22  |  Dave 06/04/09
      19.   You cynics out there think you`re SO superior! 03:18  |  Raymond in DC 06/04/09
      20.   Keep science and religion separate 04:20  |  Jon 06/04/09
      21.   Recycle Your 1981 Calender 05:16  |  Jeff Northridge 06/04/09
      22.   Birkat Hachama 07:38  |  a shagutz 06/04/09
      23.   Response to #13 07:46  |  A shagutz 06/04/09
      24.   #19 11:13  |  observer 06/04/09
      25.   To Observer #24. It is a good feeling to disregard reality. 17:20  |  Ben 06/04/09
      26.   Jon #20-but not keep perception and religion separate 22:25  |  Meir Gush etzion 06/04/09
      27.   Seems to me that . . . 15:09  |  Zev Davis 07/04/09
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